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Work in an Attractive Inverse-Square Field


	This Demonstration presents a computation of work done in an attractive central field, specifically Newton's inverse-square law of universal gravitation. The red disk locates the attracting mass. The plot shows the work done on the particle as it moves along a piecewise-linear path specified by the black locators.


	Contributed by: Bartosz Naskrecki

The segments of the path are linear, which implies that the work curve is made up of parabolic arcs. The calculations are based on Newton's second law of dynamics,

, where

is the force,

is the mass, and

is the acceleration, and the differential equation for work,

, where

is work and

is distance.

Force (ScienceWorld)

Work (ScienceWorld)

Gravity (ScienceWorld)

"Work in an Attractive Inverse-Square Field" from The Wolfram Demonstrations Project
http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/WorkInAnAttractiveInverseSquareField/

Contributed by: Bartosz Naskrecki

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